The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) through this Call elicits observing proposals for MeerKAT, seeking to maximize the scientific impact of the telescope while contributing to South African scientific leadership and human capital development.
MeerKAT is a radio interferometer located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa (at 30 deg South, 21 deg East) consisting of 64 dishes with baselines of up to 8 km. Its superb sensitivity (each antenna’s SEFD at L-band is similar to that of a VLA antenna), ~2000 baselines, centrally concentrated distribution (~3/4 of the dishes are located in a 1 km diameter core), substantial field of view (~1 deg FWHM at 1.4 GHz), and unblocked aperture design, make it uniquely suited to a variety of studies.
Who Can Submit Proposals
Proposals submitted under this CfP may be led by any researcher (including postdocs and PhD students), regardless of affiliation.
The basic MeerKAT imaging data product consists of interferometric visibilities, at high rates (the 32K correlator mode yields at least 1 TB of data per hour). Also, MeerKAT has some particular characteristics that may require adaptation during processing by researchers only familiar with other radio interferometers. In the preparation of proposals, SARAO therefore strongly encourages collaboration between new users and those who have prior MeerKAT experience.
Click here to read the full call for proposal.
Visit MeerKat website https://science.ska.ac.za/meerkat
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